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Posted by Amy Miller on July 09, 2015 7 Comments
Early last month, the news hit that the federal government's Office of Personnel Management (OPM) had been hacked, compromising the records of millions of federal employees. It was one of the largest thefts of government data ever recorded, and caused a panic amongst current and federal employees. In the wake of the breach, many experts said that the hack was likely worse than had been reported; it looks like they were right---to the tune of 21.5 million victims. Via Fox News:
Hackers swiped Social Security numbers from 21.5 million people -- as well as fingerprint records and other information from background check investigations -- in the massive breach earlier this year of federal personnel files, the government acknowledged Thursday. The Office of Personnel Management included the findings in a statement Thursday on the investigation into a pair of major hacks believed carried out by China. "The team has now concluded with high confidence that sensitive information, including the Social Security Numbers (SSNs) of 21.5 million individuals, was stolen from the background investigation databases," the agency said of the second breach, which affected background investigation files.
21.5 million is a big number. This makes it feel huge:

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Posted by Amy Miller on July 09, 2015 15 Comments
Republicans and Democrats have given Jeb Bush a taste of his own foot over comments the presidential candidate made during a live-streamed interview with a local New Hampshire news outlet. Reporters with The Union Leader were quizzing Bush about his plans to grow the economy and reform the nation's tax structure when Bush said that, in order to grow the economy, "people need to work longer hours." Via ABC News:
He was answering a question about his plans for tax reform and responded: “My aspiration for the country and I believe we can achieve it, is 4 percent growth as far as the eye can see. Which means we have to be a lot more productive, workforce participation has to rise from its all-time modern lows. It means that people need to work longer hours” and, through their productivity, gain more income for their families. That's the only way we're going to get out of this rut that we're in.”
Watch:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 09, 2015 6 Comments
When I visited The Times of Israel on July 8, 2015, there were four headlines about blatant anti-Semitism. In Korea, Argentina, Croatia, and the Palestinian Authority (through its Ambassador in Chile). Times of Israel AntiSemitism headlines July 8 2015 Here is the referenced speech by the Palestinian Authority Ambassador to Chile, in which he invokes the forged anti-Semitic Protocols of the Elders of Zion:

Posted by Jay Caruso on July 09, 2015 31 Comments
The term "liberal media" is one that kind of makes people raise an eyebrow as it is often seen as too generic an attack on the media. That said, it is hard to argue that some bias in the media does not exist that tilts towards Democrats. Look at almost any survey and you'll find the overwhelming majority of journalists vote Democrat and some of that bias is going to work its way into their reporting whether they want to admit it or not. Bias can come in two forms: How something is covered and whether or not it is covered at all. Then there are times when the press just goes off the reservation and their fawning coverage of President Obama is just blatant. Following the horrific shooting of nine people by Dylann Roof, President Obama was invited to Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, to delivery the eulogy for Rev. Clementa Pinckney, one of the nine victims and also one of the pastors of the church. The President, never one to miss a chance to make something political, spoke of gun control but also delivered a stirring tribute to Pinckney, who not only served people at the church, but also as a state legislator. It was at the end of the eulogy that President Obama did something that some described as "one of the most powerful moments in Presidential history." He launched into the song, 'Amazing Grace', one of the most beautiful hymns ever written. Twitter went haywire with a ton of tweets punctuated with "Wow" at the wonder of the moment.

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 09, 2015 38 Comments
The presiding federal Judge in Texas vs. United States Andrew Hanen is not playing around. Wednesday, Judge Hanen threatened to hold Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson in contempt of court. Under Johnson's watch, and after Judge Hanen blocked President Obama's immigration overreach, approximately 2,000 individuals "erroneously" received work permits. To date, Johnson has yet to correct the mistake to Judge Hanen's satisfaction. The Associated Press reports:
A federal judge in Texas has threatened to hold Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and other top immigration enforcement officials in contempt of court for not fixing problems that led to work permits being mistakenly awarded under President Barack Obama's executive immigration action after the judge had put the plan on hold. The Justice Department had said about 2,000 individuals had been sent three-year work authorizations after U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Brownsville, Texas, temporarily blocked the immigration action on Feb. 16. In a court order Tuesday, Hanen said government officials have yet to fix the problem. The judge also requested Johnson and four other officials attend an Aug. 19 hearing to explain why the issue hasn't been fixed and to "be prepared to show why he or she should not be held in contempt of court."

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Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 09, 2015 54 Comments
Donald Trump thought it was a good idea to pick a fight with former Texas Governor Rick Perry, apparently. "Failed at the border" is a pretty serious charge, and one that the good Gov decided to address. "Hey Donald, I saw your tweet the other day but I think you might need to borrow my glasses to get a good look at the steps I took to secure the border while I was the Governor of Texas. I cant support what you said, but no one knows the concern Americans have about our porous border than I do."

Posted by Mike LaChance on July 09, 2015 33 Comments
It's probably safe to say that there aren't many liberals in media who were impressed by Hillary Clinton's recent interview on CNN. Chuck Todd of NBC, Maggie Haberman of the New York Times, Mike Barnicle of MSNBC and others had little praise. David Rutz of the Washington Free Beacon put together a highlight reel of media reactions:
The Media Thought Hillary’s CNN Interview Was Terrible Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s first wide-ranging, sit-down interview of the 2016 election cycle was a dud, according to mainstream media observers. MSNBC’s Morning Joe panelists thought she was evasive, fearful, and gave off an annoyed vibe. On immigration, she made untrue claims about her Republican opponents and CNN’s Jake Tapper warned her about overplaying her hand. CNN’s Alisyn Camerota called her out for blaming right-wing attacks for her sinking poll numbers, reminiscent of her accusations of a “vast right-wing conspiracy“ when she was first lady. Meet the Press‘s Chuck Todd, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, and BBC’s Katty Kay all said, separately, she looked “defensive” on questions about her private email server.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 08, 2015 4 Comments
Rasmea Odeh is the supermarket bomber who killed Hebrew University students Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner in 1969, served 10 years in Israeli prison before being released in a prisoner exchange, and then made her way to the U.S. in the mid-1990s. Rasmea then lied on her visa and naturalization applications, among other ways, by denying that she ever had been charged, convicted or imprisoned. Rasmea was convicted in federal court in Detroit in November 2014 of immigration fraud, sentenced to 18 months in prison, and ordered deported. Rasmea danced in the aisle of the bus back to Chicago after sentencing. Rasmea is out on bond pending appeal. We have covered many times how Rasmea is being treated as a hero by the anti-Israel activist community, based in part on her claim that her Israeli conviction was solely because she falsely confessed after 25 days of sexual torture. In fact, she confessed just one day after arrest, there was substantial independent evidence, and even a Red Cross observer said she received a fair trial. Decades later, after they all were out of prison, Rasmea's key co-conspirator credited Rasmea with being the mastermind of the supermarket bombing. http://youtu.be/v0Va7-cNxf8 The fêting of Rasmea has picked up steam. She appeared at a fundraiser attended by 500 or so people at the University of Illinois - Chicago, in a joint appearance with Angela Davis:

Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 08, 2015 35 Comments
Following the release of a scathing report, Baltimore's Police Commissioner Anthony Batts is now jobless. Among other issues, the report alleges police officers were ordered not to engage protestors.


Posted by Kemberlee Kaye on July 08, 2015 14 Comments
In a train wreck of an interview with CNN Tuesday, Hillary Clinton made some colorful claims. CNN's Brianna Keilar asked Hillary what lead her to delete 33,000 emails. Avoiding the question, Mrs. Clinton rambled on about how technology is hard and was finally redirected by the softball coach Keilar. “But you said that they [former Secretaries of State] did the same thing. That they used a personal server, and while facing a subpoena, deleted emails from them,” interjected Keiler, engaging Hillary Death Stare Sequence Phase II. “You know you’re starting with so many assumptions that are, I’ve never had a subpoena, there is no, again, let’s take a deep breath here,” said Mrs. Clinton, obviously rattled and speaking to herself. No subpoena?

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 08, 2015 2 Comments
On June 12, 2014, three Israeli teens were kidnapped and murdered in the West Bank by a Hamas-affiliated group. The bodies would be found on June 30. During June, an intensive search was conducted for the teens and the murderers, including the arrest of many Hamas members in the West Bank and a crackdown on its operations. Militants in Gaza fired a total of 62 rockets into Israel during June (even before the kidnapping), and Israel retaliated by targeting rocket crews and militants in Gaza: On June 30, 2014, 16 rockets were fired into Israel by Hamas, leading to more Israeli targeting and a massive Hamas rocket offensive. Hamas or other militants fired over a dozen rockets a day the first few days of July, and then on July 7 as Israel retaliated with airstrikes, the daily count grew to 80 rockets on July 7 and 156 on July 8.

Posted by Amy Miller on July 08, 2015 7 Comments
Yes, that headline is for real. Judging by what happened this week during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, I'm almost positive that the Obama Administration is ready to negotiate with Edward Snowden. From the Wall Street Journal:
Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas), at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, asked Ms. Yates about recent reports that the U.S. government was in talks with Mr. Snowden and his attorneys over a possible deal that would give him minimal prison time in exchange for returning to the United States and cooperating with U.S. officials. Mr. Snowden leaked large amounts of records about secret U.S. spy programs beginning in 2013, sparking a large public debate about whether there should be curbs on government surveillance. “Mr. Snowden needs to return to the United States and face justice,” Ms. Yates said in response to Mr. Cornyn’s question. She didn’t indicate whether or not the Justice Department was in talks with Mr. Snowden over a plea agreement, though it would have been unusual for her to make such an admission before Congress.
The Committee is right to push on this. A few days ago, former AG Eric Holder (miss him yet?) said in an interview with Yahoo! News that the possibility of a plea bargain is more realistic than you would think:

Posted by Amy Miller on July 08, 2015 28 Comments
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court (am I allowed to call it the "Kennedy Court" yet? That would be fun...) made serious waves in the administrative law world when it handed down a ruling that will make it much easier for activists to prove local-level discrimination against minority candidates for low income housing. Even Justice Kennedy, who led the majority's charge in favor of an expanded disparate impact analysis, was forced to admit that the ruling could cause an eventual return to racial quota systems. We're not quite there yet, but rest assured---the crack team at Housing and Urban Development, led by San Antonio golden boy Julian Castro, is keeping an eye on things. A new rule, floated by HUD and released today by the Obama Administration, will require cities and towns to to look for patterns of racial bias in local housing. Officials will then be forced to report every 3 to 5 years on the state of the housing market, and self-set goals for reducing segregation in their jurisdictions. This information won't just go into a bureaucratic vacuum; instead, it'll head straight for---you guessed it---another government database. WaPo explains:

Posted by Amy Miller on July 08, 2015 14 Comments
I remember my first unfriending-by-way-of-politics. I was 25; I'd made it all the way to my second year of law school without alienating a single person in the digital space---give me a medal. I had posted something negative about nuclear proliferation in Iran, drawing the ire of one of my best friends who also happened to be 100% Persian. Over the course of three or four heated comments, it was friendship over, both online and in the real world. 7 years of friendship, down the drain in an off-cycle. It deserved better. I like to think I've grown out of the kinds of superficial political arguments that end relationships, but there's something about an election cycle that brings out the worst in all of us. Semi-anonymity is a truth serum, and sites like Facebook and Twitter are handing it out for free. Does our addiction to social media mean that our relationships will forever wallow in an extra layer of tension? Probably; and now there's a new app called Who Deleted Me that will show you just how big of an impact your online posts are having on your friends, family and colleagues. Buzzfeed spotted it:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on July 08, 2015 22 Comments
We have been covering the absurdity of the "Yes Means Yes" movement, and the violation of fundamental due process rights under the banner of "rape culture," for quite some time: In our coverage, we frequently have posted this parody video from 2007. Now life is imitating parody, as reported in The Washington Examiner (via Instapundit), Advocacy group distributes sexual 'consent contracts' to college students:

Posted by Mike LaChance on July 08, 2015 3 Comments
Time has really flown by, hasn't it? Would you believe the famous recall election that Scott Walker won in Wisconsin was three years ago? As you may recall, it was a big night at Legal Insurrection with fireworks and music on the site. Our Wisconsin Recall Tag has the history. Wisconsin first lady Tonette Walker tweeted out this reminder yesterday: Here's a great video from the Walker team to commemorate the event:
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